website/content/museum/nec-apc.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
NEC APC	Computers	Professional Computer	Japan	1982	NEC UPD-8086	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts oc_id source APC /media/museum/photos/nec_apc_system_1.jpg /companies/nec NEC label value NAME APC label value MANUFACTURER NEC label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN Japan label value YEAR 1982 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE None label value KEYBOARD Typewriter type, 61 key + 25 key numeric/cursor pad + 22 function keys label value CPU NEC UPD-8086 label value SPEED 5 Mhz label value CO-PROCESSOR NEC 7220 graphic chip, socket for a math co-processor label value RAM 128 KB standard, 640 KB max. label value VRAM Unknown label value ROM 4 KB ROM, 4 KB battery-backed CMOS RAM label value TEXT MODES 80 columns x 25 lines + 1 status line (8x19 dots character matrix) label value GRAPHIC MODES 640 x 475 pixels label value COLORS 8 label value SOUND Buzzer label value SIZE / WEIGHT 48.3 (W) x 61 (D) x 35.5 (H) cm / heavy! label value I/O PORTS 1 or 2 x RS232 up to 19.200 baud, 1 x Parallel label value BUILT IN MEDIA 2 x 8'' floppy disk drives (243 KB or 1 MB)\ Optional hard-disk (9 or 18 MB formatted) label value OS CP/M-86, UNIX and MS DOS in option label value POWER SUPPLY PSU built-in label value PERIPHERALS 2nd RS-232 port, 32-bit floating point unit, Line drawing graphics subsystem, Very high resolution (1024x1024) , IBM emulation software, SDLC communication procedure label value PRICE Monochrome, single floppy : $3,298 (US, 1983)\ Monochrome : 27 800 FF (France, Dec. 83)\ Color, dual floppy : $4,998 (US, 1983) photos adverts 338 title subtitle text image PROMOTIONAL PICTURE /media/museum/photos/nec_apc_3.jpg title subtitle text image RUNNING SYSTEM **Dick Leary**, the proud owner of this machine says:\ I bought this machine in 1983. It still works. I still have all documentation which was in hard cover binders and even included the engineering layouts for all the pcb boards. Very impressive.\ When I got the machine, I wanted to communicate with bulletin boards and MCI but there was no comm software so I wound up writing my own and used it for several years until buying an IBM clone(UG!).\ I also have a 10 meg hard drive which looks like a shoebox but at the time was state of the art. It was great machine in its day. /media/museum/photos/nec_apc_system_s2.jpg title subtitle text image U.S. ADVERT (1982) As NEC american office wanted the APC to compete with the IBM PC. So they tried to do a pastiche of the [Charly Chaplin IBM advert](/museum/ibm-pc-model-5150/).\ It was not a good idea. /media/museum/pubs/nec_apc_pub_1.jpg title subtitle text image U.S. ADVERT #2 (1982) As the first advert campaing was not a good idea, NEC of America replaced it with this one... which was not better /media/museum/pubs/nec_apc_pub_2.jpg 333 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230417033459/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=333 2023-04-17

This professional computer from NEC was a very nice system at the time. With its high resolution graphics (640 x 475) and its large disk capacity (1 MB), it sure was impressive in 1982!

Bill Czermak recalls:
I developed the first version of MIPS (Manufacturers Integrated Production System) on one of the first colour APCs sold in Australia. I added a 5 Mb NEC harddisk later. The 8" floppies held 1.2 Mb. I am told my original system is in a museum in the Geelong area.

I added an XT compatibility card to port my software to the the IBM XT and my software worked fine using this card. When I installed it on a customer's genuine IBM, I got a blank screen!!! Which I fixed that day on the customer's premesis. I think the APC was 30% faster than the XT and cheaper with better graphics.

Jeremiah S. Junken reports :
I actually have one of these which still works. By default, it runs CPM/86, there was a UNIX available, and MS-DOS available. Mine had an external 10MB HDD. The software included "benchmark" word processor, VisiCalc and dBase II.

The major things worth nothing about this otherwise unremarkable machine were it's relative speed, the fact that the lights would dim slightly when it was turned on, and that, in the year 2002, it still works. :-)

Gary McCray adds:
I actually still have a working one of these also. Actually, it was pretty remarakable when it came out for its high resolution graphics capability using a (at the time) powerful NEC 7220 Graphics controller chip which formed the base strategy for virtually every other graphics controller since.

Unfortunately very little software was available that took advantage of its graphics capability. Also it was featured in one of the stupidist full page ads ever produced and ran for months with a giant hand covering it up and the admonition "The Computer The Competition Doesnt Want You to See" and a suggestion to write away for information on it (see 'Adverts' section). If that wasn't stupid enough, you couldn't actually get any information on it from either writing or calling.

It is remarkably well made and was extremely powerful and reliable in the time it was built (weighs over 80 lb). But a combination of truly stupid advertising and lack of easy access doomed it in the US to a very small group. It fared much better in Japan understandably, and surprisingly in Australia (no giant hand I guess). I developed graphics authoring programs for it that sold successfully in both Japan and Australia.

We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.